I have always believed that 50% of a broker’s activities are geared toward making a dollar TODAY and 50% toward making a dollar TOMORROW. While this is a concept foreign to many brokers, it is one that has had a very positive impact on my career. At the end of the day, success in retail brokerage is largely based on your reputation AND relationships and following “The 50/50 Rule” helps with both.

“I have always believed that 50% of a broker’s activities are geared toward making a dollar TODAY and 50% toward making a dollar TOMORROW.”
~ Brad Umansky | Progressive Real Estate Partners

Brokers often get called by property owners, tenants, developers, city officials, appraisers, lenders, industry organizations and others who may need some help, but there is no immediate “pay-off”. Many brokers ignore these requests. I thrived on them. Even though they took countless hours, ultimately I reaped a lot of benefit by helping out AND I used these opportunities to build relationships, and hence my reputation and visibility in the business.

Here are some examples of actions you should take to honor “The 50/50 Rule”:

Join Industry Committees and Help Plan Events – Industry organizations like ICSC, SIOR, CCIM, ULI, and CREW rely heavily on volunteers to facilitate activities and programs. Get involved and help with the planning of events. Ideally you will take on a role, such as being the moderator or a program coordinator, which gets your name in the program and/or allows you to introduce or moderate the event.

Speaking Opportunities – Many organizations are also looking for “experts” to participate as a speaker or panelist at industry-related conferences. In addition, these days trade media companies like France Media, Bisnow and RENTV also host events targeted to commercial real estate. If you like to speak (or even if you don’t), this is a great opportunity to position yourself as an “expert” and help out the organization which, as a bonus, often times also leads to free PR.

Return Appraiser Phone Calls – Appraisers need market input about current deals to do their job and this can be a “win-win” opportunity. In return for providing input, many appraisers will be happy to send you their data, thereby you are able to obtain new market information that adds to your knowledge base. Also, if you ask the appraisers questions, you frequently will gain inside market knowledge about a deal or possible listing.

Call People Back – It may be as simple as someone needing your opinion on working with a specific tenant. Call them back. The same goes for email. Following this one simple rule could be the start of a relationship that will lead to your next big deal.

Respond to Reporter Inquiries – Sometimes I’ve spent half an hour on the phone with a reporter only to find out that they only used one line of our entire conversation but that’s okay because I’m building a relationship with the reporter. In turn when I have some news to share he/she will be more likely to pay attention. Reporters need reliable “go to” expert sources not to mention that this gets your name in print and helps position you as a market expert and thought leader in the field.

Attend Public Hearings – If you have a transaction that requires a public hearing to get the user or project approved, go to the hearing. I have probably attended at least 50 of these hearings over my career. You will be such a better broker if you learn to navigate the municipal approval process.

If you want to succeed over the long term, you must make some sacrifices of your time in the short term. By being generous with your time, doing favors for others, and making the extra effort on items that may not be the most valuable use of your time today; I assure you that you will yield incredible benefits down the road.

In short, if you aren’t following “The 50/50 Rule” you’re missing out on a major opportunity to build your brokerage business.

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